ISS crew fling out arm, grab SpaceX Dragon capsule

First commercial delivery docks with the station

The first contracted SpaceX Dragon has successfully docked with the International Space Station after being snagged with the Canadarm2 robotic arm.

The Dragon berthed with the Earth-facing side of the Harmony node at 14.03 BST (9.03 EDT) today. Around two hours earlier, Japanese flight engineer Aki Hoshide and NASA 'naut Suni Williams grabbed the commercial cargoship as it flew with around 32 feet of the ISS with the Canadian Space Agency's robotic arm.

The hatch will open on the new supplies just after 9.00 BST tomorrow after the vestibule between the Dragon and the station is pressurised and power and data cables are put in place by Williams and Hoshide.

The ship will stay locked on to the station for 18 days, giving the crew plenty of time to unload 882 pounds of supplies, scientific research and hardware and reload with 1,673 pounds of stuff to take home.

Canadarm2 will once again grab the Dragon on 28 October to detach the ship from Harmony and release it for splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, 250 miles off the coast of southern California, six hours later.

The mission, CRS-1, is the first contracted cargo delivery flight after the successful test mission in May.

Although the trip to the ISS has gone smoothly, liftoff on Sunday caused the Falcon 9 rocket under the Dragon to lose an engine, leaving a commercial satellite that was hitching a ride in a lower orbit than planned. ®